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Bon Iver Writes Song For Zach Braff’s, “Wish I Was Here”

We know that music is important to Zach Braff. The soundtrack to his last film, Garden State,was integral to the story and introduced many to bands like The Shins. While working on his new film, Wish I Was Here, he asked a number of musicians to write new songs. There are four specifically written songs on the new soundtrack and one of them is by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).

Wish I Was Here is a follow-up in spirit to Garden State. As the music supervisor, Mary Ramos helped choose the music for the new film. She flew to Wisconsin to screen a rough-cut of the film for Justin Vernon and his brother Nate late one night in their living room. She told us via email, “They were enjoying it and laughing, but at a certain point, they just got quiet. When it was over, Justin started humming. We talked afterwards about the relationship between Zach’s character and his brother [Josh Gad], and Justin and Nate talked a little about their father — all the while Justin kept distractedly humming. Eventually, he sang out the words ‘heavenly father.’ Before I even left their house, Justin was recording the first version of the song in his downstairs studio. His inspiration was that immediate.” This song is one of two tunes Bon Iver has on the soundtrack. The other is “Holocene” from the band’s self-titled 2011 album. Listen to it here:

The film will be released on July 18. The soundtrack will be out on July 15 (you can pre-order it now through the movie’s website or iTunes). Here’s a track listing below. We’ll be rolling out new songs by Bon Iver and that Cat Power/Coldplay collaboration over the next few weeks.